Dark Ages Literature

Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister, Ophelia, is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding”, muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.”

Ava Sinclair’s life was shattered days before her wedding when she discovered her fiancé's betrayal with her best friend. Devastated, she decides to take the honeymoon to Phuket, Thailand alone, hoping to find solace and escape the pain. But instead of peace, Ava finds herself caught in a whirlwind of passion with a mysterious stranger. Nikolai Volkov isn't just any man—he’s powerful, wealthy, and utterly captivating. Drawn into his magnetic pull, Ava is caught in a whirlwind of desire and danger that threatens to consume her whole.

East and West. Humans and Spirits. Breccans and Tamerlaines. The Isle of Cadence has always held itself and its residents in a tenuous balance. But now Bane, the spirit of the North Wind, has pushed everyone and everything in his path off-kilter in a bid to claim dominion over all.

Ireland, 1011 AD. The mortal kingdoms rise up against High King Brian Boru as they seek to wrest his crown from him. Yet the real struggle is between the two magical races of Ireland, the Fomorians and the Descendants, eternal enemies who both now seek dominion over the mortal world. Gormflaith, queen of King Brian, remains unmasked as the powerful Fomorian she is. Gormflaith plans to establish control over Ireland and destroy the Descendants in one fell swoop... but she cannot do it alone.

I'm done playing by my father's rules. Lex Edwards may rule the business world, but he no longer controls me. We did, however, come to one agreement—I'm allowed to take a gap year before college to travel through Europe. But, one year to the day, I must return home. On my travels, I met April. She's like me—escaping life back home until we're both forced to go back. April offers me a place to stay, and since I'm broke and in dire need of a job, I'll take anything over going back to my controlling father. That's when I'm offered an opportunity I can't possibly refuse.

I was meant for more than teaching psychology at Blackmore University. I am the second son of the family's consigliere. They married me to a widow who quickly passed. My inheritance—her daughter. I admit that I have looked favorably upon her over the years. I admit that intentions have been less than noble. Now, she's at Blackmore. Away from the family's watchful eyes. Away from her uncles who see right through me. Away from everything that keeps us apart

Set at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan '80s, The Rules of Attraction is a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students with no plans for the future - or even the present - who become entangled in a curious romantic triangle.

In the dark corners of the Mortal Realms, the mad and mysterious Gloomspite Gitz go to war, following the trail of their abominable lunar deity. Nowhere is beyond the sight of the Bad Moon—not even those places under Sigmar’s protection, like the sweltering city of Draconium. Beneath the scalding rains of Aqshy, the city is a boiling pot of tension, its regent praying to Sigmar for guidance while Watch Captain Helena Morthan douses the fires of anarchy: blades drawn in the streets, heretical doomsayers preaching the end of days, and insects eating watchmen alive.

Natalia Mazzone has grown up knowing she is promised to a made man. As the only daughter of one of New York’s most powerful mafia dons, she knows she can’t refuse. It’s her duty, and she would never dishonor her beloved father. But the man she’s promised to is a monster. And there is nothing but torture, pain, and heartache lying in wait. So, she grabs happiness when she finds it - in the somewhat reluctant arms of Leonardo Messina. Leo is her brother’s best friend. A soldato for the Mazzone famiglia.

One evening, two years’ worth of memories lost. Under the pretense of recovery, my father sends me to an elite boarding college, but soon, my memories start rushing back, and it’s obvious I’m not at Lakeside to heal. I’m here to hide. Navigating the scattered past to decipher the threat lurking in the shadows is hard while I’m kept in the dark and even harder when he steals my focus. Crude, arrogant, and threatening, he draws me in, and the closer I get, the less I understand. Waking up without memories is terrifying, but remembering the time I lost is infinitely worse.

I’m locked in a war that’s not of my making, and I’m tied to a destiny I have no say in. For someone like me, Brennan O’Donnelly represents something intangible - safety. A single promise unlocks options I didn’t dare dream of possessing.... A future. A family. He’s hard. He’s dangerous. He’s filthy. Yet, somehow, he’s exactly what I crave. Now I just need to make him see me for what I am - his queen. If he’ll have me...this is Brennan O'Donnelly's story.

Supernatural creatures create chaos across an unforgiving Western landscape in the first book of a propulsive and cinematic fantasy adventure starring ever fearless Nettie Lonesome. Nettie Lonesome dreams of a greater life than toiling as a slave in the sandy desert. But when a stranger attacks her, Nettie wins more than the fight. Now she's got friends, a good horse, and a better gun. But if she can't kill the thing haunting her nightmares and stealing children across the prairie, she'll lose it all - and never find out what happened to her real family.

Michael, the Archangel himself, has returned after 150 years rejuvenating in the Etheric Dimension. Now, the most powerful male vampire the world had ever known is back.The problem? The world went through an apocalypse, and what little honor and justice that previously existed is gone. Further, his love has left to the stars somewhere, fighting for those on Earth. Now, Michael has to figure out where he is, where he needs to go, help those who need help, and figure out how to follow in his love's path.

The battle between vicious spirits and strong-willed queens that started in The Queen of Blood and continued in the powerful The Reluctant Queen comes to a conclusion in The Queen of Sorrow, the final volume of the Queens of Renthia trilogy. Queen Daleina has yearned to bring peace and prosperity to her beloved forest home - a hope that seemed doomed when neighboring forces invaded Aratay. Now, Daleina believes that her dream of ushering in a new era can be realized, even in a land plagued by malevolent nature spirits who thirst for the end of human life.

Hope has a price. Nick Prasad has always enjoyed a quiet life in the shadow of his best friend, child prodigy and technological genius Joanna 'Johnny' Chambers. But all that is about to end. When Johnny invents a clean reactor that could eliminate fossil fuels and change the world, she awakens primal, evil Ancient Ones set on subjugating humanity. From the oldest library in the world to the ruins of Nineveh, hunted at every turn, they will need to trust each other completely to survive.

Cado Ezechiar is a wanderer who has outlived the memory of the age that made him. A Soulblight vampire who accepted the curse as his people and kingdom fell to Chaos, he now roams the Realm of Death and beyond seeking retribution and salvation for the ones he failed. Aided by the bound spirits of those he lost, Cado follows a path of revenge, hunting the servants of Chaos to slake his need for blood while seeking the Sorcerer of Change who destroyed his kingdom.

Deep blue eyes with silver shards… watching me… always watching… Valentin Constanov doesn't take no for an answer. So, when I tell him to stop following me, it might as well be a direct challenge. It's his job to watch over the empire, after all. And I share a connection with his boss's wife—not that I want anything to do with the Russian mafia or their dark and twisted lifestyle. I've got my own problems to worry about. But the hot-tempered, ill-mannered, tattooed-covered Romeo isn't used to being rejected.

Drekki Flynt! Captain of the Aelsling, known throughout the Skyshoals of Achromia! Say his name and make half a tavern starry-eyed, while the other half mutters about how much money he owes them. Drekki Flynt! Uncommonly tall for a duardin – an adventurer, an endrineer, a wit, and a self-proclaimed genius. Drekki Flynt...is in trouble.

Rising from the gloom-shrouded cults of Ulgu, the empire of the Daughters of Khaine now dominates the Realm of Shadow. These matriarchal witch-aelves are graceful masters of death who revel in spilling blood, and whose opposition to Chaos borders on mania. Proud governors of their own ruthless agendas, it is their devotion to Khaine, the ancient aelven god of murder, the Daughters seek to prove above all—and alongside it, the favour of his high priestess, Morathi. To this end, a Khainite would bleed the realms dry in dedication to her cause.

A malevolent threat looms over the once great city of Excelsis. For as long as the treacherous Ortam Vermyre lives, civilisation is no longer safe within the Realm of Beasts. Witch Hunter Hanniver Toll must brave the deadly seas and jungles of the Taloncoast to stop Vermyre before he can reach the legendary lost city of Xoantica. For within this forgotten ruin lies an artefact of darkest sorcery that possesses the power to reshape reality itself: the Silver Shard.